Special coverage presented by Maui and Sons

The Chileans dominated stage 1 of the ALAS Pro Tour in a resounding way, not only did they win the three divisions in dispute but they were the majority in all divisions, when the semi-finals arrived, 10 of the 12 surfers still alive were all locals.

Reñaca's local hero Maximiliano Cross won the men's open, Maitencillo's talent Noel de la Torre won the Junior and Arica's regular footer, Lorena Fica, won the women's open.

In the first final of the day, the youth final, Nicolás Díaz started quickly, scoring mediocre points of 2 and 3,5, but putting pressure on Noel de la Torre, who took just over seven minutes to take his first wave of note, an attack on a powerful lip that the judges awarded 5,75 and that was enough to put him in first place.

But Diaz did not want to be left behind and found a good right hand in which he got a neat tube that he backed up with an attack to the foam, the judges paid him 6,25 and with that the man from Antofagasta returned to first place. De la Torre needed 4,01 with 14 minutes on the clock, he had a first opportunity but did not complete it, then he had another with five minutes remaining and did not complete it either.

But Nico Diaz took another wave that did not help him improve his score and he lost the priority that De la Torre knew how to take advantage of: With four minutes left he took a mediocre right that opened strongly, made a snap and then a good off the lip to floater. He was given 4,75 and went to first place; it left Diaz with priority needing 4,25 that he could never get.

The final score was 10,5 to 9,75.

“It feels incredible, the heat was super difficult, Nico started with 6 and I spent half the heat looking for a score, but I did it. I am very happy,” he said after getting out of the water and minutes before entering the open final.

In the women's final, the Brazilian Karol Ribeiro surfed some reasonable lefts but did not score any significant points. Lorena Fica waited almost 10 minutes to catch her first wave, a big right that opened up and allowed her to maneuver to the shore. The judges gave her 3 points. Ribeiro needed 3,05 to beat the local.

Three minutes later, Fica found a bigger right and opened with a strong maneuver that the judges appreciated at 4,75.

Ribeiro found a right in  She did good backside maneuvers, the judges gave her just over three points and she needed 4,5 that never came.

The final score of the series was 7,75 to 5,2.

“Two wins in one week make me very happy, so now I want to keep going because this is a good start,” said Fica after getting out of the water. She added: “The sea was very difficult, I think I chose well and I didn’t make a mistake in that regard.” Asked about the fact that she is the new leader of the rankings, she said: “I hope that the Latin circuit gets motivated and has better conditions for the riders.”

In the last final of the day, the open men's final, both Cross and Noel De La Torre started their campaign quickly, in the first 10 minutes the competitors surfed seven waves and Cross took the lead thanks to a 6,7 and a 4,3 that came from two rights in which he maneuvered strongly in the pocket.

De la Torre stayed within reach, needing a 5,81 to move into first place, his best wave was a 5,25 that he got thanks to a combination of two good backside maneuvers.

The series seemed to remain calm but with 10 minutes left Noel de la Torre found a good ramp that allowed him to do a radical aerial. Expectations were generated regarding the score but the judges did not give him the 5,81 that he needed.

With three minutes remaining, instead of De la Torre finding a wave to turn the series around, Cross did so without priority, he did a good aerial and increased the difference, leaving De la Torre needing 6,21 with priority.

The double bugle sounded and declared Maximiliano Cross the winner, the final score was 11,45 to 10,40. As a good local, he was applauded and greeted by the entire arena.

“I had a good championship, and at the national championship too (which took place three days ago and he finished second) I was left wanting to win… Things worked out, I am happy, I am with my family and that is the important thing, enjoying myself with the people with whom we are always here,” said Cross, much applauded by his fans after the final.

Asked what he planned to do with the $3.600 prize money, he explained: “I'll invest it in my career since I'm without sponsorship. I'm going to try to invest it and do the best championships to get money. Now I have my family to support so I just have to put my heart into it and enjoy surfing.”

Complete results:
1:  Maximiliano Cross
2: Noel de la Torre
3: Leon de la Torre and Roberto Araki
5: Guille Satt, Juninho Urcia, Esteban Cross and Nicolas Undurraga

Ladies
1: Lorena Fica
2: Karol Ribeiro
3: Paloma Santos and Josefina Vidueira

Junior
1: Noel de la Torre
2:Nicholas Diaz
3: Leon de la Torre and Thomas Bock